More About Bridget Da'Cow

Bridget, our new family milk cow, is a sweetie pie.

Bridget looking at the camera. Brisket nursing.

Her full name is Bridget Da'Cow. Wife and I wanted to honor our Saint-o-the-Year, St. Brigid of Kildare. Plus, the 7-letter/5-letter combo fits with our family's naming scheme. Some people do all "J" names, or everyone ends in "Y," or something like that. We do it numerically.

She's really sweet, and everyone in the family has grown to love her instantly.

Wife said hello the first day we had her.

Wife feeding Bridget some grains and taking her for a walk.

I'm working on halter and lead training her (and that little (*&%^$ Brisket), and while I had her tied and supervised, Thing #2 came to say hello.

Bridget saying hello to Thing #2. It was very warm this weekend.

You can see the chain in the picture above. Bridget and Brisket will be halter-training and tether-training. We are going to practice intensive managed grazing involving a mixture of corral-panel pens, portable electric fencing, and chain-based tethering. Chains last longer and tangle less easily than rope, as I discovered when the donkey was on a tether. I got the chains so each supports about a ton of pull. I also added a swivel to the end, and have a screw-on lock to attach to the halter and back to the chain on the other side. I'll post about tethering later on in more detail.

I've also been hand milking her the last few days. it's been getting better every day. Yeah. Let's put it that way. Basically, she injured a teat (I think) in transit. One of the quarters had blood in the milk from an edema. the vein is blue-ish and clearly visible. The others are doing OK, but she's still adjusting and not letting down for me all the way. She's kind of humoring me right now. But, we're making progress. She only kicked the bucket over once today.  :)

All in all, it's an exciting time with our new homestead members. Stay tuned for more!